Chapter 297 (2/2)

The steepness then became a problem for the defenders because, pressed to the hill as they were while climbing, the target they had to attack was much smaller.

Still, there seemed to be several archers among the people of Star Crossing that were accurate enough to keep the danger to a minimum.

His chest heaving, Simon fell back on his ass. His hands were numb, his legs were trembling, his vision was blurring. He cursed himself. He had used up almost all of his Mana without even noticing. Water Manipulation became more difficult the farther away you were, leading to a rapid drain while he used it in the fight. But still…

Simon closed his eyes. Maybe he could be useful in other ways…?

Astral Projection didn’t seem to require Mana or Stamina, but just his focus and will. With his body weakened already, there really was no point to stay here and worry. Besides, he would be protected by Thea and Chrysanthemum.

It was a strange feeling, separating his consciousness from his body, but it was… freeing. Although, it did have the unfortunate side effect of forcing Simon to look at himself, but…

Quickly turning away from the sight of his own eyes rolling up into the back of his head, Simon floated forward, slowly at first, but gaining speed as his will spread outwards. There was a limit to his range, Simon knew, based on that strange feeling in the back of his head. A growing weakness that would, at some point, cut him off.

But Simon was too afraid to test the limit. After all, it was one thing if stretching that far snapped him back to his body. But if the weakness meant that the connection just was severed, and he was just a spirit, while his body wasted away…

Putting that out of his mind, Simon rushed forward. It was pretty easy to follow David’s trail. There were dozens of shattered skeletons. And then hundreds.

Honestly, Simon wasn’t sure which was more intimidating, that there were this many skeletons, or that fully ¼ of the thousands strong army appeared to have been culled by David as he passed through.

The speed was pretty scary too, but even the fastest sprinter couldn’t rival a spirit, and Simon could begin to see the signs of fighting ahead. As it seemed he still had a lot of soul tether remaining, Simon continued on.

And stopped dead, likely for the same reason that David was, hesitating slightly when faced with what he found. At the back of a large group, there was a skeleton that was clearly controlling the others, a creepy looking thing with long arms and legs, and yellow eyes. That head of its pulsed with strange power, waves spreading out from it and dissipating in the air in a strange way.

As Simon watched, the long arm thing stretched to its full height, of about 4 meters, and pointed towards David. The ground around him wriggled, and skeletons began to climb up, skeletons with weapons and darker bones than Simon had seen in the past.

Yet still David hesitated, because standing between him and the skeleton were people. People holding up pikes, warding him off, seemingly just as surprised as he was that they encountered each other. Beyond those guards were several carriages, and a larger group of people, who appeared to be non combat related, all staring at the new arrival.

David said something quietly, and Simon had to strain to catch it.

“I have to kill that.”

The man at the lead of the group of 10 guards gave his fellows a glance, then shook his head sadly. “Let it go kid, the Skeleton Knight is gonna win this war. This is just one Reanimator of many. Just pledge to-”

But David was done listening, and moved, his body blurring, reaching an even higher level of speed, slipping through the pikes, around the long shafts, knocking two guards aside, and charging forward.

It was so fast that no one could even react. This was just…

A different level.

The head guard swore. “Fucking Christ, another monster. Vandal! Slow him down.”

A slim boy, no older than Simon himself, stepped forward out from behind the Reanimator skeleton. He had pale, straw colored hair, and tiny, beady eyes. But what really drew the eyes was his mouth, which seemed to stretch far, far longer than a mouth had a right to. The ends of that mouth curled up.

As David continued to rush forward, the boy removed something from his belt and popped it into his mouth.